1. Technical Field
An aspect of the present disclosure relates to an image reading apparatus and a conveyer device.
2. Related Art
A conventional image reading apparatus is equipped with a chassis. On a rear side of the chassis of the image reading apparatus, an inlet, through which a sheet is introduced, may be formed. An outlet, through which the sheet is ejected, may be formed on a front side of the chassis. Inside the chassis, a conveyer path ranging from the inlet to the outlet may be formed. An image reading unit may be disposed along the conveyer path. In positions adjacent to the image reading unit, on each side closer to the inlet and to the outlet, a pair of conveyer rollers may be disposed.
The sheet introduced into the chassis through the inlet may be conveyed in a sheet-conveying direction along the conveyer path by the conveyer rollers, and in midst of the conveyer path, an image on the sheet may be read by the image reading unit.
The conventional image reading apparatus may be configured to read an image appearing on a smaller-sized card, of which width and length are smaller than those of the sheet. In this regard, a part of the outlet formed on the front side may be configured to serve both as a card inlet, through which the card can be inserted, and as a card outlet, through which the card can be ejected. The image reading apparatus may include a system to rotate the pairs of conveyer rollers bi-directionally, i.e., in normal and reverse directions, which are opposite from each other. The conventional image reading apparatus may include a sensor for detecting the card reaching and passing by the image reading unit in a position between the image reading unit and one of the pairs of conveyer rollers closer to the inlet.
When the card is inserted through the card inlet being a part of the sheet outlet, the pairs of conveyer rollers may be rotated in the reverse direction opposite from a direction for the sheet to be conveyed in the sheet-conveying direction, so that the card is drawn inside through the card inlet by the pair of conveyer rollers rotating in the reverse direction and conveyed toward the inlet.
When the card conveyed toward the inlet passes by the sensor, the rotating direction of the pairs of conveyer rollers is switched to the normal direction to convey the card in the same direction as the sheet-conveying direction. Thus, the card is conveyed toward the card outlet. While the card is conveyed in the sheet-conveying direction toward the outlet, an image appearing on the card is read by the image reading unit.